November, 2000
Volume 16, No. 1

Preaching to the Choir

Spirituals in New York

My Love and I

Honoring American Women Poets

Gifts of Stock

A Different View from Here

From the Boston Globe 7/25/00

The Insider 'View from Here'

A New Look for melodiousaccord.org

Thoughts on Teaching

NEW! Fellows' Opportunities!

Spring in the Berkshires

Seven Fellows, 2000

...From the Mailbox

Home Page
The News Stand

I've often heard it said that fundraising is an arduous task. Sure, the letter writing campaigns, the countless calls, the hard sell, the soft sell, the who-do-you-know-that-might-support-our-cause type conversations, all play a role and take time, energy, and-yes, a little money. Absolute fearlessness when it comes to rejection, I've been told, is a prerequisite for a fundraiser. I disagree. Believe it or not, those who pass the hat for MELODIOUS ACCORD are seldom rejected. In fact, some readers of this Newsletter have told me we don't ask often enough! While that may be debatable, few can argue against the notion that sharing melody is a good, if not great, endeavor and the special brand of community that is created when we sing together is a powerful force. Regular readers of this Newsletter know this, and anyone who has attended one of Alice Parker's workshops, fellowship program, or a MELODIOUS ACCORD concert has experienced this first hand. I am, I realize, preaching to the choir here.

We are proud of the fact the loyal friends of MELODIOUS ACCORD consistently and graciously continue to support our work. On behalf of the Board of Trustees of MELODIOUS ACCORD, I cannot thank you enough. In the past year we have raised nearly $30,000 in private gifts from individuals who agree that the work Alice Parker and MELODIOUS ACCORD is worth supporting. Our robust fundraising total together with our a $25,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts for the Alice Parker Recording Project is fantastic news. However, we are still short of our $150,000 goal and are already half way through our campaign. While I'm confident that we will reach our goal, this means you will be hearing from us again soon. ...Not that you need to wait for another mailing. If you'd like to make a gift now and save us some postage and printing costs, you may send your tax-deductible gift to: MELODIOUS ACCORD, Park West Station, P.O. Box 20801, New York, New York 10025.

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Save the evening of Saturday, January 13, 2001, at 7:30, for the annual MELODIOUS ACCORD celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King's birthday. Now in its fourteenth year, the concert will be held at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, returning to the glorious building where it began in 1987. True to the spirit of Dr. King's belief that we should "build armies that sing, not slay", Alice Parker and The Musicians of MELODIOUS ACCORD will join forces with the Inspirational Choir of The Riverside Church and the young voices of the North Coast Singers from San Diego, in what promises to be an unforgettable evening of joyful song.

An informal workshop will be held in conjunction with the concert, including attendance at the dress rehearsal, a packet of music, an hour's discussion with Alice Parker, and a concert ticket. For advance registration (required) or more information, please contact: ptalayco@melodiousaccord.org.

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The long-awaited release of MELODIOUS ACCORD's newest recording will take place early next year. We are delighted to announce that it will be released by Newport Classics, a label with an enviable reputation for lively, interesting and beautifully recorded additions to the repertoire. The CD features the Men of the Musicians of MELODIOUS ACCORD in two dozen wonderful Shaw-Parker arrangements of love songs - the perfect Valentine's Day present.

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The Alice Parker Recording Project is moving along at, well, a record pace. We're busy making plans with producer Karl Held to start recording our next CD, which is tentatively titled SongStream: Alice Parker's settings of American Women Poets. Five suites are included, with choral settings of lyric poems by Edna St. Vincent Millay, Emily Dickinson, May Sarton and Elinor Wylie. Alice Parker will conduct the Musicians of MELODIOUS ACCORD and some surprise guest chamber musicians.

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Some of our readers have asked if they could support MELODIOUS ACCORD by making gifts of appreciated stock. We are pleased to announce we now have a "stock option" for those contemplating such gifts.

For details contact Paula Talayco, Managing Director, at: 212-665-4405.

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"Behind the Scenes at Singing Brook Farm"

"The View from Here" often describes a setting of natural beauty and tranquillity that provides a backdrop for inspiration and creativity. For those who have visited Alice at Singing Brook Farm, each column evokes wonderful memories of shared meals, the famous Alice Parker bread, and the joy we find in choral music. But life at Singing Brook Farm is more than contemplative reverie and "warm fuzzy" feelings. There is, of course, the usual to and fro of daily life: yard folks, cleaning folks, family, friends, and church committees, but there are also the comings and goings of Alice herself. A quick glance at Alice's engagement schedule gives pause to the heartiest among us-concerts, workshops, SINGS, premieres, scattered across the country and around the globe. Printed materials to prepare, commission deadlines to be met, rehearsals, recording sessions-Who knew? We're invited to "Follow Alice Parker on the Move"-Who could!

Interwoven into this stream of activity, a small group of volunteers and staff is engaged in a major effort to organize and catalog Alice's more than 700 compositions, published and unpublished. On first consideration, this seems merely to be a formidable clerical job, but in process it becomes a window into the remarkable history of Alice Parker's contributions to choral music.

This collection of compositions, primarily commissioned works, is clear testimony to the fact that, from small church choirs to symphony choruses, there are singers who find joy and inspiration in the music of Alice Parker. This tremendously rich choral music resource will become available to musicians, some of it for the first time, through the Alice Parker Music Company, which is being developed here at the Farm, and the sound of her music is being preserved and made accessible to all through the Alice Parker Recording Project. Finally, the Alice Parker Archives will be housed at the Music Library of the University of Maryland at College Park.

As followers of Alice Parker know, a good melody may be enriched by the addition of an answering voice or an underlying pedal. At Singing Brook Farm, in New York, Wisconsin, Idaho, and across the country the pedals are humming.

-Marilyn Pryor

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..."One revelation for this listener was the near-orchestral, room-filling richness. Add some clued-in-improvisation here, a held-on pedal or drone here and there, and the heavens practically opened up."

-Richard Buell

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After music-making, teaching and celebrating in Baltimore, Innsbruck, Seattle, Edmonton, Boston and Chapel Hill last summer, I was ready to stay home for a while. And it has been wonderful - two whole months with only minor traveling. Lots of time for family, friends, summer picnics, reading, cooking and composing. It feels more and more right to be here, and the lure of other places is correspondingly less.

So I'm clear in my decision to do no more workshops at individual churches or schools, and to limit severely the appearances at larger gatherings. Of course I have two years of pre-arranged dates ahead - and people do keep calling with tempting ideas. But I'm determined to keep time for myself, to catch up with the increasing activities sponsored by MELODIOUS ACCORD, and with a long list of commissions.

I love the process of composing: the search for texts, looking out the window, reading and thinking, reciting poems as I cook, recording poems to listen to in wakeful hours at night - waiting - then the immediacy of an 'idea' when the project springs to life. . . . jotting down the melody, then working out the setting - hours of finishing details - and the satisfaction when the piece is completed. It's a very familiar routine, and infinitely rewarding, no matter what the size or 'gravitas' of the final product.

Marilyn's article talks about the many tasks that take up my time, and I must say that a lot of it is spent in either correspondence or planning these myriad activities. I enjoy the company of my many helpers, and the process of writing English, too - but the day always seems incomplete if I haven't spent some time at the composing desk. That's the real bottom line, and the key to my equanimity. All else depends on my reserving time for this mysterious communion with the world of sound.

- Alice Parker

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We are most certainly moving into the express lane on the information superhighway. The extraordinary Roy Lewis, MELODIOUS ACCORD's web master, has given our site-www.melodiousaccord.org-a new look. We hope you'll visit this site often for the most up to date information about our exciting activities and upcoming events.

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A letter from David Cherwien about his new venture teaching introductory music theory at the college level led me to outline some of my thoughts on teaching theory.

Music Theory

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January 10-13, 2001, will see the second annual Reunion of MELODIOUS ACCORD Fellows. Three days of sharing memories, ideas and experiences, culminating in the Spirituals Concert. Join Alice in New York City! For more information, e-mail: beth@aliceparker.com

Also, for the first time, MELODIOUS ACCORD offers a Fellowship II Program, for Fellows who have completed Week I. Offered June 11-16, in Hawley, MA, the course will concentrate on training people to teach Alice's ideas, in song-leading, rehearsing, performing and theoretical studies. For further information, contact beth@aliceparker.com

Don't forget to tell your friends and students about the traditional Spring in the Berkshires program: see below.

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THE MELODIOUS ACCORD FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM
for Conductors, Composers, Singers,
Instrumentalists, Teachers and Church Musicians

Study with Alice Parker

May 15-24, 20001

Hawley, Massachusetts

A time for mid-career professionals to meet, discuss their work, re-examine basics, re-define priorities, and become refreshed and re-invigorated in searching for their own relationship to the melodic arts. Limited to eight people with experience in the choral/vocal field.

For more information and application materials, write MELODIOUS ACCORD, 96 Middle Road, Hawley, MA 01339; fax 413-339-6609; e-mail beth@aliceparker.com

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Two singers, a composer and four church musicians made up the lively group, hailing this year from all along the Atlantic seacoast. Nancy Almquist, MD; Carol Doran, NY; Judith Jones-Gale, MA; Deirdre Hiltsley, VT; Janice McNair, TN; Justine Paul, NH; and Mark Williams, GA, all stayed at Red Top, the spacious farmhouse up the road from Alice's, where they enjoyed each others' company: "What a perfect home away from home to share life, song and laughter with a great group of musicians!" The schedule indicated five hours of class per day, but in fact "There were no truly 'off' hours - we were engaged every valuable minute. There was composition homework every night." "We all worked to death - and loved it!" And after the ten days concluded with the singing of a program of 'recent works' around the table in the studio, letters came back saying "I've been reaping the rewards of your teaching all summer - writing, composing and singing." And "If you want to be revitalized in your music making, run don't walk, to the next Spring in the Berkshires program."

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..."Thursday morning was a truly heady mix of everything from the intensely dark and slow to the vigorously active and festive, though I did have to laugh after Canto de Esperanza when you averred that we could all do this sort of thing in our own congregations back home*-that will be the day! But even if we don't manage to dance in the aisles ...., we'll certainly sing better for all your excellent suggestions."

* i.e. dancing in the aisles

-Carl P. Daw, Jr, Exec. Director, Hymn Society, United States and Canada

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